For this review I’m going to break down this game in three, different sections .

1.) Singleplayer

Well when I bought Bad Company 2 I didn’t plan on playing singleplayer at all but with all the server issues that EA has been having I started to play singleplayer. My first impressions were…. Wow this really sucks. It was dull and boring and felt like it was just tagged on. I kept on playing and it slowly starts to do more things then just run with a gun, shoot a rocket at the tank and pwn noobs. I still have yet to finish the singleplayer but from what I’ve heard it’s a great ending. One major thing that really bugs me is the amount of cussing in the story it seems like every other word is a guy screaming a F Bomb, which is a MAJOR turn off. Overall 6/10

2.) Graphics and Sound

Before I go ANY further in this review I must say the sound in this game is AMAZING! With my Tritton AX Pro headphones I could hear everything from a tank to a boat-from afar to the rockets being shot at my building. The graphics could be better, they don’t seem very polished. Not enough to make the gameplay any worse just something that EA screwed up on.. Overall I give the sound a 10/10 and the Graphics a 7/10

3.) Multiplayer

Now this is why everyone bought the game and I must say this is a BLAST. There’s always something to do whether it be raining down gun fire from a blackhawk or storming the base with tanks. One thing that I don’t enjoy about the multiplayer is the fact that the guns you get at a levvl like 23 can destory a team of level 10s. Overtime I could see it being a issue. One other thing I really enjoyed was the fact that you get blow up anything in your way like being a wall or a tank. I give it a 9/10

Overall I have to say this game is one of the best games I’ve played and if anyone asked me if they should buy the game I’d say YES!

My Overall score for the game is a 8.5/10 with a boost in the graphics for this game it would be a 9/10.

Weekly Wisdoms for the week of March 8, 2010

Time is the price you must pay for intimacy with God.

Ok, so let me first say that I’m not a SONY hater (I guess you know how this article is going to go after that statement).  I LOVE my PS3.  While I do believe SONY is way behind M$ in content,  first party software and online community gaming, I do believe the PS3 to be superior in hardware, DVD/Blue ray play back, and use of ACTUAL DOLLARS in their online store. 

Now that you know I am not a simple XBOT on a fanboy rampage hating on all of SONY’s first party tiles, I’ll now disclose that I did not enjoy MAG.  I appreciate the concept, and how hard the developers did work, and continue to work on the game, but I find too many frustrating flaws in the game to excuse said developers from criticism. 

Let me go through a list of game play elements and explain my frustration.

1. The graphics are subpar even for a game trying to simplify the graphics to order to eliminate lag.   I understand that lots of polygons and animations create latency and connection/lag issues (Gears of War players will understand that) but I honestly expected a little more.
2. The ambient noises and voice dialogue is terrible.  The explosions sound like someone lit a pack of black cats and covered them with a pot.  I also can’t fail to mention the horrid voice action when your character goes down and says something to the effect of “I’m not going to make it”.  I seriously experience a better effort in Conflict Denied Ops, and that game was worse than horrible.
3. The controls feel a little stiff and delayed but overall they are fine.
4. The lack of explanation on how to play this game and upgrade your character is inexcusable and downright lazy.  Going into each game type I had no idea what I was doing.  In addition playing against people of higher levels with upgraded weaponry was depressing and saying it created balance issues is an understatement.
5. Finally, there are the usual problems with playing a game online on the PS3, no headsets being used and not enough friends to play with (or at least not enough friends in your same faction…..don’t even get me started on THAT).

Summarizing the game, I just feel it wasn’t ready.  Another month of solid development addressing the above issues and streamlining some of the menu and upgrading elements would have drastically improved this game.

A couple of final thoughts, I just can’t understand why developers continue to put out games that can only be played online and then making them PS3 exclusives.  First SO COM (which was a pretty cool game) and now MAG.  SONY, while thankfully offering free online (for now) has refused to expand the experience in measureable increments.  When I was gaming exclusively on the PS3 the experience “was what it was”.  Now that I have a 360 again, going back to play PS3 games is a frustrating experience.  I understand now why PS3 fanboys get so enraged when “XBOTS” start bashing on the PS3, they just don’t understand what the 360 offers that the PS3 doesn’t.  I hope SONY comes out with a first party game for its console that I can enjoy.  I LOVED MW2 for the PS3, and actually had a better experience on it than I’ve had on the 360.  So the question remains, for me anyway, when will SONY finally get that first party title that I just can’t put down?  It hasn’t come out yet, and MAG, in that regard, was fail.

UPDATE:

This is a formal apology to Drew.  Jeff pointed out to me that it was him that wrote the article.  Upon looking at the author of the title, I see that it was Jeff that wrote the article.  Sorry Drew.  I have therefore removed all references to Drew. 

P.S.  You need to fix the forum posts on these articles.  It looks like Drew wrote them.

I was going to post this yesterday but did not have time.  Good thing.  Looks like Jeff has gone and trashed Heavy Rain and mocked the people who bought it.  I guess I will have to disagree with Jeff on this one.

(more…)

The thing about Heavy Rain

First of all, it’s not a game.  I refuse to acknowledge that a few iffy quick time events, or random button presses, or controller movements constitutes a game (unless you consider making eggs, brushing your teeth, changing diapers, and executing the perfect asthma medication inhalation game play).  It’s an interactive story, not a game.  That being said who is dumb enough to pay $60 for an interactive story.   Show me someone that has paid $60 to be privy to a story and I’ll show you someone who is NOT smarter than a fifth grader.  (I realize that includes everyone that paid full retail for Heavy Rain, sorry, I was, um, talking about other people, not….you..guys).  Anyway!

Let’s just point out what has to happen in order for this IP to work.

Graphics must be top notch:  Check

1. Voice Acting must be perfect:  not so much

2. Player movement and Camera control must be flawless: saying meh is an understatement.

3. The story must be very intriguing and either; A)be near perfect, or B)have a superb ending: I think anyone who has played this game and is being honest with (him/herself) will admit that the answer to all of the above is no.

I think this would have been something great for SONY to introduce as episodic DLC, or just charge much less for the game to begin with.

In other words Heavy Rain is fail, and while I realize some people will enjoy this game and think I’m an idiot for my take we will have to just agree to disagree.

In case you haven’t seen it on Xbox Live, check out the exciting new multiplayer trailer!

The original Story can be found here: http://voices.washingtonpost.com/checkup/2010/03/study_shows_violent_video_game.html

The age old debate for those of us thumb-calloused nerds.  Does exposure to violent video games lead to violence in someones life.  My answer?  Yes and No.

The answer can’t be a purely black and white, Yes or No, simply because if that were true, every person who ever played a violent video game would have lashed out.  But, obviously given this data, we can’t say that is has no effect on the prevalence of violence in someones lives either.

Even beyond scientific studies, observed trends etc. there is something even more indicative that violent video games (or other forms of media for that matter) can have a damaging effect on our lives: Scripture.  Scripture does tell us to be careful what we expose ourselves to: Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it. – Proverbs 4:23 (sadly I can only find one verse on this topic, but I know there are more.  Please feel free to add more in the comments section).

Now, playing video games is something that each believer needs to decide for himself/herself whether or not he/she should be playing a certain game, but also in addition to that, let us also be careful how much time we spend on them, as to avoid these games being elevated above God in our hearts and becoming idols.  Like any other questionable activity (Violent video games, “over-sexed” media exposure through tv and movies, gambling) with consistent exposure, the “highs” decrease and the threshold and standard increase.  This creates an ever increasing “need” for our flesh to be satisfied (I experienced this first-hand with lust and the internet before I was saved.  Praise God I am free from that demon!).

So for those of us who do enjoy our violent video games I pose a few questions:

• Do you notice yourself becoming more easily agitated after a gaming session? (Sadly, I do)
• What are you personal “healthy” limits for gaming? (For me, just making sure that my other responsibility are taken care of and that I spend time with Jenn.  To be honest, my desire to game lately has been reduced)
• Have you had an experience where you you said to yourself “Whoa, this is too much.  I need to address this in my life.” (Yes: WoW…need I say more )
• What other observations or questions do you have regarding this matter?

I pray that we are all able to look at ourselves and habits objectively and that we can enjoy this hobby while still allowing our hearts to belong “solely” (you’ll have to pardon the pun) to Jesus.

God Bless.

-Neil

I had the awesome opportunity to interview Vince Scheuerman, lead singer of the band Army of Me.  Vince and I sat down and talked about the inspiration for his music, his stance on faith and more.  For more information stay tuned to Episode 144 of the Hardcore Christian Gamer Cast.  Visit Army of Me’s website here.